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MILSTED

IS the next adjoining parish south-eastward from
Bredgar. It lies on high ground, obscurely among the
hills, and surrounded by woods, there being no thoroughfare of any account through it; the situation is
not much different from that of Bredgar adjoining to
it. The parish is but small, containing about eight
hundred acres of land, of which about fifty are wood.
The soil in the upper or southern part is poor, consisting partly of chalk, and partly of a red cludgy earth,
the whole of which is much covered with flints; in the
centre and northern part it is something more sertile
and kindly for tillage. The church stands nearly in
the middle of the parish, having the mansion of Hogshaws almost adjoining the east end of the church-yard,
at the west part of which the parsonage stands. At no
great distance from hence northward, in the vale, is all
that there is of a village in the parish; near the southeast boundary is Torry-hill, belonging to Mr. Osborne
Tylden, who resides in it; near the western boundary
is Broadoak forstall, and the hamlet called from it.
On this forstall there stands a remarkable large juniper
tree, being near fifteen feet high, and near eight feet
before it has any branches,

THE MANOR OF MILTON claims paramount over the
greatest part of this parish, subordinate to which is
THE MANOR OF MILSTED, which in the beginning of
the reign of Edward I. was in the possession of Thomas Abelyn, who died possessed of it in the 4th year
of that reign, then holding it as one messuage, and one
carucate and an half of land, in Milsted, and pasture
for three hundred sheep in the marsh of Elmele, of
the king, in capite, by knight's service. He was succeeded in it by Nicholas Abelyn, who died two years
afterwards, holding it by the like service. Soon after
which it appears to have come into the possession of
the family of Savage; one of whom, John le Siuvage,
obtained a grant of free-warren in the 23d year of the
above reign, for his lands in Milsted and other places;
but before the 20th year of king Edward III. this
names seems to have been extinct here; for at the
making the black prince a knight, the heirs of John
Savage paid aid for this manor. Indeed, it seems from
the beginning of that reign, to have been in the name
of Mocking, (fn. 1) from which it passed into that of Hoggeshaw, and Elmeline, late the wife of Sir Thomas
Hoggeshaw, died in the 50th year of it, possessed of
the manor of Milsted, held of the king in capite, as one
knight's see.

Their son Edmund Hoggeshaw, succeeded to the
possession of it, which had now, from their continuing
owners of it, acquired the name of Milsted, alias Hoggeshaws, by which it has been known ever since. He
died in the 12th year of king Richard II. s. p. upon
which Joane, one of his sisters and coheirs, entitled
her husband, Thomas Lovel, esq. to it, whose son
Thomas, in the 12th year of king Henry IV. held a
court for this manor; one of his decendants sold it to
Robert Greaves, who died in the 9th year of king
Henry VII. holding it in manner as above mentioned,
Katherine, wife of George Sole, being his daughter
and next heir. Soon after which, it became the property of Roger Wake, who died in the 19th year of
king Henry VII. when this manor, with the advowson
of the church of Milsted passed by his will to Margaret
his daughter, whose husband, John Barnard, esq. entered into the possession of it. At length his grandson
of the same name, dying an insant in the 14th year of
king Henry VIII. it became vested, by the limitations
in the will of Roger Wake above-mentioned, in his
right heirs, who conveyed their interest in it to Sir
Thomas Nevyle, and he passed it away by sale to Sir
Robert Southwell, who in the 4th year of Edward VI.
passed away, by fine then levied, the manor of Hoggeshaws, alias Milsted, and the advowson of the church
of Milsted, then held of the king in capite, to Thomas
Henman, senior, and his heirs. His son, Alan Henman, of Lenham, in the 12th year of that reign, sold
it to Thomas Thomson, of Sandwich, jurat, for the
use of Agnes, his daughter, who entitled her husband,
John Toke, gent. of Goddington, to the possession of
it. She survived her husband, and by her will in 1629,
devised it to her eldest son Nicholas Toke, esq. of
Great Chart, who in 1631, anno 7 Charles I. passed
away both manor and advowson to Edward Chute, esq.
of Bethersden, whose son George had married Eleanor
Toke, his eldest daughter, and he anno 9 Charles I.
conveyed it by fine then levied to Richard Tylden,
gent. of Great Chart, and William Tylden, then an
insant, his son. The family of Tylden had antiently
possessions in the parishes of Brenchley, Otterden, Kennington, and Tilmanstone, in this county; one of them
William Tylden, paid aid for lands in this county, in
the 20th year of king Edward III. In the reign of
queen Elizabeth, a branch of them was settled in the
parish of Wormsell, one of whom, William Tylden,
died there in 1613. His direct descendant, Richard Tylden, esq. of Great Chart, who bore for his arms,
Azure, a saltier, ermine, between four phoens, or, purchased this manor and advowson as above-mentioned,
whose eldest son William Tylden, gent. was of Hoggeshaws, as was his son Richard, who dying in 1763,
was buried with his ancestors in the Tylden chancel, in
this church. By Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Osborne, esq. of Hartlip, he left one son RichardOsborne, and three daughters, Hannah married to Edward Belcher, of Ulcomb; Mary to Thomas Bland,
clerk, and Philippa, who died unmarried. Richard
Osborne Tylden, esq. succeeded his father in this
estate, and left his widow surviving (who re-married
the Rev. Edward Smith, rector of Milsted, and died
in 1776) and by her four sons, Richard, of whom
hereafter; Osborne, of Torry-hill, esq. in this parish,
who married the only daughter of John Withins, esq.
of Surry; the Rev. Richard Cooke, rector of Milsted and Frinsted, and Manby May; and one daughter
Elizabeth married to Mr. Valyer Baker, Surgeon, of
Sittingborne. Richard Tylden, esq. succeeded on his
mother's death to the possession of this manor, and now
resides here; he married Miss Catherine Rolse, of
Ashford, who died in 1783.

The last court held for this manor, being a courtbaron, was in the year 1632.

HIGHAM-COURT, now usually called Great Higham,
is a manor in this parish, which was antiently the property of a family of the name of Nottingham, whence
it acquired, as appears by antient writings, the name of
Nottingham-court.

They resided at Bayford, in Sittingborne, so early
as the reign of king Edward I. Robert de Nottingham, owner of this estate in the reign of Edward III.
was sheriff in the 48th year of it, and kept his shrievalty at Bayford, in which year he died, and was found
at his death to hold lands in Doddington, Tenham,
Milsted, Tong, Bredgar, and Sittingborne, all which
descended to his only son John Nottingham, who died
s. p. leaving his daughter his sole heir, who marrying
Simon Cheney, of Cralle, in Sussex, second son of Sir
Richard Cheney, of Shurland, he became entitled to
this manor. The Nottinghams bore for their arms,
as Philipott says, Gules, two pales wavy, argent; which
coat, impaled with Cheney, was in one of the windows
of Milsted church. On the roof of the cloysters of
Canterbury cathedral, are carved the arms of Nottingham, Gules, on a bend, argent, three escallops, azure;
but of what kindred to these of Milsted, I have not
found. In his descendants this manor continued down
till Richard Cheney, esq. and his son John, in the year
1676, joined in the conveyance of it to Mr. Thomas
Lushington, of Sittingborne, whose great-grandson, the
Rev. Mr. James Stephen Lushington, is the present
owner of this manor. (fn. 2)

Charities.

JOHN WIATT, of Milsted, by will in 1722, gave a moiety
of several pieces of land in Milsted, Frinsted, and Wormesell,
containing about twenty acres, towards the teaching of four
poor children of this parish to read and write, vested in the minister and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 2l. 4s.

There are five alms-houses belonging to this parish, on the
eastern side of it, next to Kingsdown.

The poor constantly relieved are about nine; casually forty.

MILSTED is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of
Sittingborne.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and the
Holy Cross is but small, and consists of one isle and one
chancel, with a low square tower at the west end of it,
in which hang three bells. On the north side is another
small chancel, belonging to the Tyldens, in which many
of them lie buried. On the south side there was another chancel, belonging to Higham-court, which was
pulled down, by the mutual consent of the proprietor
and parishioners in 1672.

In the church-yard, near the south porch, there is a
very antient tomb-stone, having on it a cross botony,
fuchee, carved in relief.

The church of Milsted was given by king John to
Wydon the clerk, who held it, as appears by the Testa
de Nevill, in the next reign of king Henry III. Whether he was lord likewise of Milsted manor I have not
found; but from the next reign of king Edward I. to
the present time, this church seems to have had the
same possessors, and as such, the advowson of it is now
the property of Richard Tylden, esq. of Hoggeshaws.

In 1578 there were fifty-five communicants. In
1640 eighty-seven, when it was valued at fifty pounds
per annum.

It is a discharged living in the king's books, of the
clear yearly certified value of forty four pounds, the
yearly tenths being 17s. 6d. The glebe land consists
of only three acres.